Mexican President Pena Nieto's Thyroid Growth Benign

MEXICO CITY — A nodule on Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's thyroid gland is benign, an official in the president's office said on Thursday.

Pena Nieto is due to undergo surgery to remove the nodule next Wednesday, in a procedure that will last an hour and a half, the president's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The official said the operation was a simple one and that the nodule was being removed because doctors thought that was the best course of action.

Pena Nieto will spend four days recovering after the operation.

Earlier on Thursday, Pena Nieto said the nodule was detected seven or eight years ago, but he had postponed treatment, local media reported.

Thyroid surgery is recommended for several conditions, including removing nodules suspected of being cancerous as well as for benign growths, according to the American Thyroid Association.

Pena Nieto, 47, took office in December, returning Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power. The PRI ruled Mexico for most of the last century until its defeat in 2000 by the country's main conservative party.